Twilight Of The War God Chapter 5: The Beginning Of The End

Tim raced along a well maintained road that led straight to Coga. As the road entered a forest, he slammed his feet into the ground and came to a halt, in order to avoid crashing into the figure in his way.

"Tim." Abraea said as soon as the restless man stopped before her. "Calm down and think about this."

"No." Tim said with a firm gaze, ignoring Abraea, and instead looking toward his destination, with an excited grin on his face. He began to walk forwards. "And you're not going to stop me."

Abraea's expression grew dark, as she turned and began to follow him. "Is that a threat?" She asked, the tone of her voice indicating her anger.

"No, it's the truth." Tim said without turning. "You're smarter than I am. You knew this would happen eventually, but you raised me up anyway. You don't have a problem with what I'm doing, you just want to make sure I'm ready for it."

The anger in Abraea's face faded into annoyance. "You're far too perceptive where it isn't necessary." She murmured at his back.

"Even I can use my brain, if it means I get to fight."

"...Most people use their brains to avoid fighting."

"Most people are weak, and avoid direct conflict."

"Whereas you run to it."

"You say that as if it's not what you expect of me."

"No, it is..." Abraea bit back her words for a second, hesitant, before continuing. "But not for this reason."

"Reason?" Tim asked, confused again by his master's insistence on a greater purpose for his activities. "What reason? I do this because I enjoy it, what more reason do I need?"

"The reason you gave when I made you my Representative."

"Yeah, like I said, I want to fig-"

"Enough!"

Tim stopped, and turned back to look his fuming goddess in the eye.

"You were nothing but a street urchin when I found you." Abraea continued, anger seeping out with every syllable. "A broken little boy, nothing but skin and bones. You truly believe that you, would have the singular desire to murder for fun in that situation? And worse still, you think I would take you on for such a mindless thing?"

"Well, yeah." Tim said, with no understanding of where this had come from. "My murdering for fun garners you a lot of power-"

"You insult me." Tim was cut off again, and he swallowed what he was about to say. "You think that I care for something as petty as power? I wish only to see humanity, the pinnacle of a human's life, when they succeed at what should be impossible. What could a wish such as yours possibly hold for me?"

Tim thought for a moment, choosing his words before continuing. "So, you're saying that I've forgotten why I originally decided to do what I'm doing, and you're annoyed because that's not fun for you?"

Abraea's eye twitched, and Tim took that as a sign that he was correct.

"Well I'm sorry to say, but..." Tim shrugged. "That's really not my problem."

The anger faded from Abraea's face again, this time chilling into a cold, disconnected glare.

"Do you think your parents raised a child that would wish only to kill?"

Tim winced at Abraea's words, and brought his hand to the side of his head in response to an imaginary pain.

"They weren't the only ones that raised me." He said, and let his hand drop to his side. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." He turned back, and once again began to walk toward Coga. "I have to finish what I started."

"And what's that?" Abraea asked, her desperate desire for her own wish to be fulfilled causing her to forget her cold demeanour.

"My war against the God of War, obviously."

"Oh..." Abraea sighed, the disappointment clear in her voice. "Of course."

Despite what had just happened, the prospect of fighting Banda quickly fired Tim back up again, and Abraea watched as he left. "How did you do it?" She asked after him, having now given up stopping him, and instead seeking to extract whatever information she could before he died.

"Do what? Kill Ischys?" Tim asked over his shoulder, as Abraea followed behind him.

"Yes. No-one's ever killed a Representative while they were in the position before, and it didn't look like he was out of energy completely. He should've survived. How did you manage it?"

Tim stopped again, and the look he gave made even his master feel unsettled.

"Domination." Tim said with a grin, and a glint in his eye. "You have to crush the hope of living out of them, until they believe they're dead. Even if one has the power to carry on, if they don't have the will, they're lost."

Tim watched Abraea's expression for a moment with a smile, before turning back, and leaving without another word. The memory of killing Ischys, and the revived feeling he got from reliving it, brought him back to the mental state he had before he had stopped, and he quickly began running.

Abraea watched him go, a melancholic expression on her face as she remembered what he used to be. "Well..." She said, pulling herself out of her minor depression. "I'm still going to watch. Either way, this'll be the end of his crusade."

"Besides, it'll be nice to see him get beaten up for a change."

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There was a battle currently raging within Banda's domed coliseum. Two small groups of mercenaries fought with non-lethal weapons for the right to be deemed superior in the eyes of their lord. But Banda's eyes, though fixed on the battle, saw little.

'Ischys is dead.' 

This singular thought was all that occupied his mind. Had any of his men been paying attention, they would have noticed that the god's sword, which never left his side, was now being tightly gripped.

'What should I do?' Banda furiously wondered. The situation he was in was a first for him, and he had no idea how to proceed. He glanced over to the side, to the spectator stands, where the leaders of various high ranking squads sat, watching the battle below.

'Should I make one of them my representative now? Or perhaps I should hold a tournament? But, that might take too long. Since Ischys was killed, Abraea's Representative must either be too strong for Ischys to be a match for, or too wild to be reasoned with. Either way, there's no telling how long it'll be before he comes here, or even if he comes at all...'

Banda turned his gaze back to the mock battle below.

'What should I do?'

And so, his thoughts chased themselves in circles, as Tim reached the outskirts of Coga.

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"Hello!" Tim yelled cheerily as he approached the tent settlement that surrounded Coga, calling the attention of the people within.

"What do you want?" One of the mercenaries called back, eyeing the sword Tim held in his hand.

"Isn't it obvious?" Tim asked, as his blood began pumping faster, and his body tensed up. "I'm here to sack your city! Doesn't look like there are any non-combatants." His eyes squinted as the mercenaries reached for their weapons.

"Marvelous, I do hate having to worry about that kind of thing."

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Inside the coliseum, the mock battle had just finished, and the squad leaders had descended to the arena's floor to hear their god speak. Before Banda could say anything, however, a young man came running in through the entrance doors.

"Sirs!" He called out to the squad leaders as he approached. "There's a situation."

"It can wait." One of the squad leaders responded. "We await our lord's appraisal."

"Let him speak." Banda's voice boomed down from his seat in the stands. "And speak loud boy."

"Sir!" The young man saluted. "A battle has broken out among the mercenaries in the tent settlement! No-one from the outside can tell what's happening, and no one that's part of it is leaving to explain!"

"Idiots." Banda said in frustration. 'Now is not the time for this.'

As this was a city made up almost entirely of mercenaries, with the most violent being forced to the outskirts by circumstance, it wasn't irregular for fights to break out. Thanks to this, Banda failed to see the situation for what it was immediately.

Banda turned his attention back to his men before him.

"Boy, leave." The young man saluted, and left for the battle. "The rest of you, kneel." The squad leaders knelt to the ground without a moment's hesitation.

'This will have to do for now.' Banda thought to himself, and jumped from his balcony, landing before the men.

"I require you all to quell this nonsense immediately." He said, and stepped closer. "We face a dire situation in our future, and I need you all to be ready. To whit..."

Banda stopped just before his men, and pointed his sword at them. After a second, the men could feel a strange force envelop them, before sinking into their flesh. Warmth bled through into their bones, and they experienced a wave of confidence surge within them.

"I have given you all a piece of myself." Banda said, and turned back towards his balcony. "Do not disappoint me, return when you have completed this task."

""Sir!"" The men stood, saluted, and hurriedly rushed to what they were sure was an easy victory, pride beating in their chests. As they left, the door to the coliseum swung shut behind them, sealing Banda in with his worries.

'Now... What to do about Abraea's Representative?'

Banda pondered this question alone, but for only a few minutes. As the time he was alone grew longer, he became increasingly agitated, to the point where he cursed his own men for failing him.

'But wait...' He thought, the possibility finally dawning on him. "No, it's too soon. He couldn't be..."

After a moment's hesitation, Banda strode to the doors that shut him away from the outside world. He flung them open without pause, and was almost blinded by the sun shining down on him. He shaded his face with his arm, and squinted across the plaza in front of the coliseum.

At the far end, he saw a figure, and he couldn't help but stare in shock.

The figure was dripping, the remnants of those he had fought against still warm as it trickled down his body. At his feet, numerous bodies lay. Some lay with their back on the ground, or facing their assailant, as men should. But what appalled Banda, was that some lay on their front, with their outstretched arms pointing to the coliseum.

The figure stood up straight, with no need to be wary about his back, as there was no one left to defend it against. He turned his head to the coliseum, and saw Banda standing there, watching him.

"Ah..." The belligerent grin Tim wore in battle turned into a genuine smile of happiness, as he gazed upon what would be his strongest opponent yet. "Finally."

The shock within Banda boiled, and rage exploded within him. He had no choice in his actions, as his body made the decision for him. Banda's voice burst out with his anger, and as the god charged towards his enemy, the buildings around them shook beneath the assault of his fury.

Tim felt the wave of noise slam into him, but it did nothing to deter him. For Tim, such a passionate cry for battle only drew him in, and fanned his own desire. He matched Banda's ferocity with glee, and raced forward.

The two met in the centre of the plaza.

Both men swung their weapons at each other, but it was made clear from the offset who the strongest of the two was. Tim's sword was cut in two with a single swipe, and although the impact slowed Banda, it was by no means close to stopping him.

A rapid exchange occurred, with Tim pulling weapon after weapon from storage, only for him to be forced to defend himself with them, resulting in their destruction.  But that wasn't the only loss that Tim endured. The power behind each of Banda's attacks was enough to tear at the muscles and ligaments in Tim's wrists, if not shatter the bones completely. The speed at which Tim was having to push himself to respond in time was also devastating his body inside. His power kept him stable however, and as long as he had two legs to stand on, no matter how broken they may be, stand on them he would.

Tim's only saving grace was his self-destructive speed. Due to Banda's size, and the unrefined nature of his attacks, the more nimble Tim was able to find the occasional opening. Not large enough to slip a weapon past in time, but enough that he could dodge around the god, and in the time it took for him to follow, jab a fist into his side.

The damage done was not large, but it was real, each small impact sending ripples through Banda's body. The attacks were nothing to the god, however, as they healed almost immediately, although Tim didn't know it at the time. With the power that Banda held within him, those attacks were akin to trying to empty a lake with a bucket. Tim would have to do better if he ever wanted to win.

But do better Tim did. As the brutish god swung his tremendous weapon, powered by the strongest emotion he had felt since the birth of his own kingdom, Tim reveled in the moment. It had been a long time since Tim had been fighting against an opponent that clearly outmatched him in raw talent, and he found his mind slowly slipping into a hyper-focused state, as all of his mental faculties focused in on Banda.

With each of Banda's swings, Tim was responding marginally faster than before. As time wore on, and his stockpile of weaponry steadily decreased, he began to find himself able to dodge the odd swing with a simple movement of his upper body. What should have been impossibly precise tasks became easier to do as the fight wore on, his body reacted faster, and Banda's movements became easier to predict.

A normal person, who fights only to win, might then choose to continue the battle as it was currently going, and whittle the God of War down to nothing. But Tim didn't fight solely to win. For Tim, defeat was acceptable, as long as he enjoyed the ride.

That's why, in the midst of the silent euphoria that comes from embracing the moment completely, Tim jumped back, away from Banda. With some distance now between them, Tim pulled out a sword, as Banda thrust his own towards him, looking to run Tim through. Tim, fully aware that any momentary failure would result in his death, gleefully pointed his sword at Banda's.

The tips of the swords collided, and with a flick of his wrist, Tim sent Banda veering to the side of him. Tim followed up, pushing forwards, and as the two passed each other, blood spurted into the air, as one of Banda's hands that clung to his sword released its grip, and fell to the floor.

A moment of silence came, as Tim felt a rush of dopamine as a reward for his success, and Banda stared bug eyed at his lost arm. It lasted less than a second, but to the two of them it felt like hours. Then, as suddenly as it came, the dopamine rush that Tim experienced was blown away by the hatred exuded from the man in front of him. Banda's arm regrew at a rate Tim couldn't hope to match, and the god turned his head over his shoulder, spit frothing through clenched teeth as he glared at his enemy.

Tim, the man who had killed his representative, the man who had massacred his men, and invaded his home, had now committed a crime far more serious than any of the previous. He had hurt this petty god's pride.

"You..." Banda growled as he whipped round, and with his now naked arm tore the clothing from the rest of his upper body to match. "IS THIS A GAME TO YOU?"

Tim would have loved nothing more than to respond in the affirmative to this roar, but he simply didn't have the time, as Banda rushed him again. A wave of power swept over the lesser divine, and for the first time since he met Abraea, he felt overwhelmed by the presence before him. This only served to push him onward, as Banda thrust his sword towards Tim, and Tim backed away, deflecting it in the same manner as before. What was once a mere fight to the death became a battle of pride, as Banda repeatedly thrust at the retreating Tim, who continued to just barely flick it away. Should Tim slip up, Banda would win, and as long as Banda wasn't able to land a thrust successfully, even if Tim died he wouldn't have won.

Tim's state of mind caught up with him though, as he failed to notice how far back he had retreated. Before he realised what had happened, he found himself with his back to the wall of one of the stone buildings surrounding the plaza. Banda thrust again, Tim reacted as he was growing accustomed to, and the two swords touched tips again.

With nowhere to run, Tim couldn't just flick Banda's sword away this time. No matter which way he tried to go, Banda would be able to grab him before he could escape, and that would be the end. He could only try to hold Banda back, and hope that he came up with a plan in time.

A hope that was sorely misplaced.

The sword that Banda held was not just any piece of metal. This sword had appeared alongside him at the moment of his creation, and was as much a part of him as any other part of his body, it held the strength of Banda within. It did not bend, nor break, and its edge was as sharp as the day it formed. The sharp edge of the blade, the point that was forced against the point of the standard arms Tim held, forced its way into Tim's sword, and split it in two.

Only a small section of the end of the sword broke away first, but Banda pushed forward again, and the same happened further down. In less than a tenth of a second, Banda had destroyed half of the length of Tim's sword, and showed no signs of slowing.

There was no manner in which Tim's body could react that would save him. His mind, shocked by his impending defeat, could only silently exclaim its surprise. The smile wiped from his face, Tim realised his defeat was nigh, and tensed up completely in response. His knuckles whitened as he gripped harder, and his muscles screamed as they threatened to tear from his bones. The fiery light that engulfed his body, which only Banda could see, intensified and retracted into his body.

But as it did, it also crept beyond his body's limits, and into the object held in his hands.

Banda's sword came to a sharp halt partially between two split sections of Tim's sword, trapped between the two. It took a moment for Banda to realise what had happened, but that moment was long enough for Tim, who didn't even care to work it out. Tim simply noticed what had occurred, and used it to his advantage, the reason why could wait.

With a twist of his wrist, Tim turned both swords by ninety degrees, weakening Banda's grip. He then wrenched his hands to the side, and pulled the weapon away from the god. Banda still held on though, and with one last chance before Banda regained his grip, Tim brought up his leg, kicking the god's hands directly, and finally tearing the sword from its owner.

The change within Banda was immediate. All of the anger, hatred, and pride within him disappeared, and all that was left was desperation as he frantically tried to retrieve his weapon.

Tim didn't allow him, and slammed his leg into Banda, sending the god backwards, though not by much. In the time he had gained himself though, Tim kicked the sword further away, causing Banda's face to fall in despair.

'What is this?' Tim though to himself, as he continued to abuse the god who no longer even tried to defend himself as he struggled after his weapon. 'Is this really the God of War?'

Tim's disappointment was not aimed at Banda's physical strength, as even though the god was no longer fighting, Tim still had to put in the utmost effort not to be bowled over by the god. Instead, it was directed at the god's mental state. Physical prowess aside, the God of War was by far one of the weakest men Tim had ever met. Even children held greater mental fortitude in times of strife.

Banda's mental state was an unfortunate side effect of his heritage, and his strength. As a god that ruled over humans, he was the God of War. But, known only to the gods and some of their representatives, that wasn't the true nature of this man. In reality, the God of Conflict was born from the collisions between the powers of his elders, and as such, even when there was fighting between the gods, he was never part of it, because the other gods saw no need to engage in conflict with one who thrives on its existence. This carried on after the advent of humanity, with the primal humans seeing the God of War as an overwhelming power, the like of which they could never hope to match, and so they never tried.

The God of War, despite his title, had never once take part in any fight.

This, compounded with his dependency on his sword as a conduit for his power, meant that if he was ever caught without what he considered to be the source and symbol of his might, then he would be reduced to nothing more than a child, scrambling in fear.

This was the being Tim now faced. A mighty beast, devoid of the will to fight, and fearfully grasping for the one thing that could save him from the weakness of his spirit.

The 'fight' continued, with Banda desperately trying to reach his sword, which was now at the far end of the plaza, whilst Tim beat him back to the coliseum, still holding the broken sword in his hand out of fear of forgetting his new power. Limbs were broken and removed, blood stained the plaza, and chunks of flesh that had be torn from Banda's body lay around, as Tim slowly killed the god. As the beatings continued, Banda had become more and more sluggish. Not due to him lacking stamina in any way, but instead due to his mind's gradual acceptance of his impending demise thanks to his inability to regain his weapon.

'I'm going to die?' Banda thought, almost without understanding the meaning of the words. 'Here? Now? To him?' He was afforded a brief respite, as Tim walked towards him. Tim had lost the enthusiasm he had before, and was now whittling the god away simply to finish what he had started.

'My power... My sword... Is that really all I am?' Banda's existential crisis in the face of his worthlessness caused him to pull himself to his feet, and stare at Tim. This tiny gesture of defiance rekindled the fire of passion within Tim, if only a little, and his body tensed up slightly in anticipation.

'My sword is my power... My being... My self...' Banda's breathing became ragged with anger once more as he stared at Tim, who had at this point stopped to watch. 'That power is me. It's not that I am nothing without that power...' An epiphany struck Banda, and Tim saw the vibrant life return to him, the weak man dispelled, leaving a god in its wake.

"I am that power..." Banda growled, and raised his hand to the sky. The air pulsated, and Tim stood in awe. He was about to bear witness to the first true miracle in centuries, and the collecting power in the air held him still.

"It's mine!" Banda yelled, and as the power collected in his raised hand, the sword on the far side of the plaza cracked.

"IT WILL NOT ABANDON ME!" Banda roared, and the sword shattered into oblivion. Within Banda's outstretched hand, the sword reformed from the power collecting there. Feeling it in his possession once more, Banda screamed out, and swung down.

Tim was terrified. He had never been in the presence of such power before. His own goddess could never match up. Were it not for his countless battles up till this point, the pressure would have killed him. But his body remembered how to move, even if he could not will it to, and he jumped to the side.

A crashing sound reverberated through the air, and Tim looked at the spot where he had just been stood. A long strip of the stone paved plaza was crushed into dust, along with a few of the houses at the end of its path. The hulking god, brimming with fury and resolve anew, gazed down on him with a hateful passion, and brought his empty hand to his sword.

Tim realised what was about to happen, and launched himself directly at Banda, before tumbling to the ground and rolling passed him. Banda followed up his crushing blow just after Tim began to move, swinging his sword to the side until it pointed behind and above him.

At the beginning of the swing, entire buildings were turned into rubble and flung into the air as shrapnel, destroying countless more behind them. By the end of the swing the sword was pointed at the coliseum behind Banda, and it collapsed the domed roof, obliterating one of the statues at its doors and sending the remains hurtling into the other one.

Tim was spared as he was by this point beneath the effected region, and as he looked up at Banda from his position on all fours, he saw the angry glare of the God of War staring back over his shoulder. Tim did the only thing he could do in this situation.

He ran.

He bolted to side of the plaza that still had buildings left standing, while frantically working out how long it would take for Banda to ready for another attack. He dodged to the side at what he thought would be the last moment, and found himself proven correct, as the path he was just on and the edge of the building he ducked behind were crushed into dust.

He ran down the length of the plaza, hiding behind the row of buildings. Another attack quickly came, and from the angle Tim could tell that Banda hadn't moved. Based on this, he stopped running down the plaza as before, and at the moment he thought Banda would attack further down, he jumped out to the edge of the plaza.

Which is where he learned that Banda wasn't as dumb as Tim thought he was. Banda stood, waiting, and when Tim popped out his head, he swung. Tim recognised his mistake immediately, and leapt toward the centre of the plaza, but he was a moment too late.

Roughly 85% of Tim made it to the middle of the plaza. He left his right leg and his left foot behind, now paste crushed into the floor.

Up until Banda had his revival, Tim hadn't worried about it, but the countless internal tears and fractures had taken their toll on his pool of energy. With the loss of his leg, and Banda's impending attack, he was left with very little to work with, and the healing of his legs was slowed down as a result.

Banda too, wasn't doing well. He had received far greater damage than Tim, thanks to the period of time where his mental state failed him, but he had a much larger energy pool. What tipped him towards exhaustion, and was now causing him to pant heavily as he prepared to finish Tim off, was the tremendous amount of power required for his attacks. If he didn't finish off Tim here, he might not get a second chance, and he knew it.

Banda took a few steps toward Tim. He wasn't close enough that Tim could spring at him without him reacting, but he was close enough that he could see Tim's eyes through the layer of dust that now drifted across the plaza. They looked at each other for a second, the only sounds were their ragged breaths, and the dripping of blood from Tim's wounds.

With both hands, Banda raised his sword to the sky. Power collected within his sword, magnitudes more than he had used in every attack thus far. Banda put every drop of energy he had left into the attack, as a show of his respect for the danger Tim posed.

Tim himself was stunned. He was generally unperceptive when it came to the light that others familiar with the divine energy could see, but even he saw the light emitted from the attack that was about to be dropped on him. In response, with his right hand that still gripped the broken sword supporting him, he raised his left over his head, and tucked what was left of his lower half beneath him. Then, as Banda roared, and the downward swing began, he tensed up, and his body erupted with every ounce of energy he had left, in an attempt to save himself.

The sword landed, and the world before Banda disappeared in a cloud of dust. The earth beneath his feet quaked as the sound of the impact shook the air, and the plaza was split in two, as the ground where the attack hit was pushed to the side as it compressed. As the dust lingered, the trembling stopped, and the echo of the collision faded, Banda's arms fell to his side. He could barely stand he was so drained, and his sword clattered to the floor as his hands lost the ability to grip.

'That's it.' He thought, as he gazed as the grey cloud he was submerged in. 'I gave everything I could.'

As he began to consider falling onto his back, his choice was made for him. A black shadow emerged from the dust cloud. A mangled thigh, attached to a broken torso, and half a chest, with one arm outstretched, plunged a broken sword into the chest of the god, and pushed him onto his back.

Banda didn't have the energy to recognise what had happened immediately. But, as he stared into the equally tired eye of the man that killed him, the rest of Tim's face having been caved in, he slowly understood.

'Have... I been... killed?' He thought, trying, and failing, to sit up, as the weight of half a man held him down. 'No. I can't have been... It's a dream...'

Then he tilted his head back to lay on the ground, though not by choice, and saw a bemused expression looking down on them both, on the face of someone he hadn't expected to see for a very long time.

"Oh." He said, exhaling the air that remained in his lungs, and then, he was gone.

Immediately Tim knew. The feeling of power rushing into his body filled him, only this time it was more intense, like every cell in his body was burning. He arched backwards and screamed as his broken  body repaired itself in the blink of an eye, and as the pain began to subside, he fell backwards. Now laying on Banda's legs, he turned over onto the cold stone, and he lay there, panting, and slipped out of consciousness.

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The sun was beginning to set, and Tim sat where he had fallen, watching it go down with an unusually peaceful expression. He noticed the footfalls approaching him from behind, but he didn't call out.

A few minutes passed, and the shuffling sound of slow movements ceased.

"Hey." Abraea said softly, her voice being the first thing to pierce the silence since the battle.

"Hey." Tim sounded absentminded in his reply, and he didn't turn his gaze from the setting sun.

"I didn't expect you to win." Abraea stated as a matter of fact.

"Yeah. There was a moment there where I didn't either."

Tim turned his head over his shoulder, and looked past Abraea at the corpse of Banda. It was very much the same as how he'd left it, but he noticed that the god's eyes had been closed while he wasn't looking. He glanced up at Abraea as he turned back, and seeing her watching the sunset, he resumed doing so himself.

"How do you feel?" Abraea asked. Tim was quiet for a moment, thinking of how to respond.

"I feel... Calm." He said. "For all these years, I've always felt like there was something pulling me forward. Every fight was a stepping stone to the next, and the promise of that next step kept me going. But now... It's not there any more. That drive is gone. I feel like I've nothing left to do, though... Not in a bad way. It's like I've completed everything I set out for. Honestly, I'm a little lost on what to think."

Abraea nodded to herself, seemingly a little satisfied, despite her previous disapproval.

"So, what now?" She asked.

"Now? Well, I guess I'll keep fighting, until the next me comes along."

Abraea frowned, and looked down at Tim, to see him looking back up at her with a smirk.

"The next you?" She asked with weariness creeping into her voice.

"Of course." Tim said, standing up, and making his way over to Banda's corpse. "It's not like I'm particularly special or anything." He picked up the sword that lay at Banda's feet, and swung it down, trying to replicate the attacks he had been subjected to at the end of the fight.

"I'd have to disagree with you there." Abraea said as she watched him with a raised eyebrow. "You're the first person I've met that's anything like you."

"That's just because most people have too much to lose on a lost cause. But now, I've proved that it's possible to kill a God. Now..." Tim turned his attention back to Abraea with excitement in his eyes. "How long until someone decides to try their luck? And how long until someone comes along that has the strength to do it?"

"I severely doubt the other Gods will allow such a thing to happen."

"Well, what the other Gods want is entirely irrelevant. Especially now."

"Tim..."

"Don't worry. I'm not an animal, I don't kill for no reason. Though I can't say I'd be upset if they came to me."

Tim's arm dropped, and the sword in his hand hit the ground as he gave up trying to replicate Banda's attacks. After looking at it for a second, he brought it to Banda, and planted the blade in the ground above his head.

"At the very least, I'm looking forward to the future. I think it'll be fun." Tim said with a smile. Abraea, mean-spirited as she could be at times, didn't quite have the heart to tell her devotee that the fact that he had killed a god would cause people to avoid fighting him, not draw them in.

"What about you?" Tim asked, a belated concern appearing in his voice. "I suppose you'll be off looking for someone else to follow now?"

"After this, I expect I'll have to answer some questions and keep my head down for a while. I shan't have much time for recreation." Abraea sighed, as it dawned on her just how much trouble was in her near future.

"Let 'em try, it'll be fun for me at least."

"I think your input should be kept to a minimum for everyone's safety."

"Only for as long as safety is an option."

"Hm."

"But, before all that..." Tim took one last look at the ruined city around them, bathed in the red light reflected off of the clouds above. "You wanna go get a drink?"

"...Sure."

And so, the two left the city behind them, deciding that for the moment at least, the issues of the future could wait.

"Oh shit." Tim said as the city behind them became enshrouded in the darkness of night. "I better check their stables." Then he turned around and began to head back.

"For every 5 minutes I have to wait I'm buying a round of drinks and putting it on your tab." Abraea called back to him, and proceeded to leave without him.

"At least tell me which town you're going to first!" Tim yelled, but his pleas went unanswered.

Some horses were saved from starvation, and in return Tim lost a lot of money that night.

The End